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Description

This course is designed to pose the question ‘what difference does it make what
cosmologies, beliefs, and practices people and/or societies around the globe advocate,
and even more important, what are the consequences of those beliefs and practices?’
Throughout the term, we will explore the ways in which peoples have attempted to understand
and gain mastery over the human, natural and/or supernatural worlds. We will begin
with a brief summary of evolutionary, functionalist, structuralist, and culturalist
approaches to magic, science and religion. The emphasis of the course, however, will
be on the importance of cosmology, worldviews and shifting paradigms. The questions
we will be interested in exploring include: What are the differences between magic,
science
and religion? Are they contradictory or complementary? Are they used for the same
purposes? Do they ever merge or blend? What happens when religious cosmology and scientific
paradigms conflict in the understanding of the universe, nature, society, and the
role of the individual?
In addition, we spend a good deal of time on the rise of mass movements, particularly
under colonial and post-colonial conditions, when cosmological conflict is both widespread
and potentially virulent. We explore the life cycle of mass movements—from nativistic
to millenarian—in the quest to create a more satisfying culture. We look at and compare
the intended and unintended consequences of such movements, both historically and
on the contemporary global stage, focusing for the most part upon societies outside
the U.S. The theoretical lenses employed in MSR help students not only understand
contemporary cosmological conflicts, but also predict probable and/or inevitable outcomes
to such conflict.
This course should be of interest to students of science (both theoretical and applied),technology
and industry as well as philosophy, anthropology, social and behavioral sciences,
and the humanities and the arts.